For example, the free-for-all over control of Mid-East oil among the U.S., China, Russian-backed Iran, India, al Qaeda and the Taliban drives gas costs sky high. [See CHALLENGE, 7/16] Furthermore, to stay top dog, U.S. rulers must spend a large chunk of their capital on making war, which wastes funds that could otherwise go to rebuilding factories and infrastructure.

CURRENT DOWNTURN DATES TO U.S. VIETNAM GENOCIDE

The current wave of manufacturing layoffs reflects a permanent war-caused trend going back to the Vietnam era. At that time, European and Japanese manufacturers — having had their factories destroyed in World War II — invested heavily in the most modern technology, while U.S. bosses stood pat, having to pour huge sums into their imperialist war in Vietnam. Thus, these U.S. rivals leaped ahead in market share.

Meanwhile, U.S. workers’ real income then began an uninterrupted downslide, with rampant inflation sapping their purchasing power. Since Vietnam, with the U.S. unable to gain a military foothold on the Asian mainland, Chinese manufacturers have increasingly dominated the labor market there and undercut U.S. firms with rock-bottom wages.

Obama and McCain tout various schemes to boost industry, finance and employment, but a beleaguered imperialist power like today’s U.S. must ultimately “solve” its economic woes through world war. It will someday have to unleash its full military might and move in the direction of destroying much of its rivals’ productive capacity and labor force and then try to seize what’s left. This would require occupying vast conquered territories to regain markets and sources of raw materials, which it is attempting to do now, with very limited success, on a local scale in Iraq.

Communist leader V. I. Lenin detailed this unrelenting process in his 1917 “Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism”: “Imperialist wars are absolutely inevitable under such an economic system, as long as private property in the means of production exists.”

In the 20th century’s two world wars, competing imperialists, seeking to win or maintain world dominance, managed to mobilize entire populations to kill hundreds of millions all over the world.

GOOSE-STEPPING McCAIN STILL DOESN’T ‘GET’ MOBILIZATION

McCain, though an ardent militarist, appears unable to grasp the economic aspects of the rulers’ approaching war needs. He would continue Bush’s tax-cuts-for-the-rich, enabling them to pocket the billions that the main section of the ruling class knows are necessary to preserve the long-range interests of their system.

Establishment mouthpiece, The New York Times (7/12), chastised McCain’s shortsightedness, “Following in those footsteps does not, however, make a good case for his candidacy. Americans face hardship in the years to come. The tanking of the economy, coming on top of years of unmet needs — for health care, infrastructure repair and alternative energy [not to mention rebuilding the military — Ed.] will require the next president to spend more and to raise taxes to support that spending.” So the Times wants all of us to “pull our weight.”

McCain would reverse the job slide with tax breaks for “entrepreneurs...at the heart of American innovation, growth and prosperity. They create the ultimate job security –– a new, better opportunity if your current job goes away.” (McCain website) In other words, “open up a small business.” Such fairy-tale promises will never provide a decent income for millions of jobless auto, aerospace, airline and steel workers, nor reduce the racist double unemployment rate for black and Latino workers. (GM has gone from the world’s top automaker to the verge of bankruptcy, shedding tens of thousands of jobs from Detroit to Oshawa, Ontario to Toluca, Mexico.)

LIBERAL OBAMA’S ‘HIGH-WAGE’ MILITARISTIC REBUILDING LACKS CASH

Obama better understands the rulers’ agenda and hopes his own version of the New Deal will mimic Roosevelt’s success in rallying a Depression-ridden nation for World War II. Obama’s campaign calls for jacking up taxes on corporations and the rich to fund “five million new jobs” at good wages in a centralized technology and infrastructure rebuilding effort. But U.S. bosses, beset by foreign competition, simply don’t have the cash to willingly forgo short-term profits for such a program. Unlike Roosevelt, who entered office when federal outlays, including military, made up only 7% of U.S. gross domestic product, the next president will inherit a state apparatus that eats up more than 20%.

A more likely scenario for “economic recovery” than Obama’s phony high-wage, voluntary-mobilization proposal involves restoring the draft and forcing workers into poorly-paid industries. Obama buried his call for mandatory national service, reaching into high schools, in a July 4 press release: “Obama will make it a presidential imperative to restore...public service to the agenda of today’s youth, whether it be serving their local communities...as teachers or first responders, or serving in the military and reserve forces or diplomatic corps that keep our nation free and safe.” (Obama website)

Soon after winning nomination, Obama picked Jason Furman, a champion of anti-union Wal-Mart as his top economic advisor. Furman is a protégé of Robert Rubin, CEO of Rockefeller’s Citibank and was Clinton’s Treasury-Secretary who led the racist dismantling of welfare.

The rulers have their work cut out for them in this period of economic decline and intensifying war. So do we. More than 400,000 U.S. workers have lost their jobs since December. Many of those still employed are spending one-fifth of their pay just on gas. But organized working-class fight-back is at a low level. PLP must expose the connection between these economic assaults and the rulers’ broader war agenda, initiate class struggle and build a party that can ultimately overthrow their deadly profit system.